14.05.2016 Views

ARTS OF INDIA

1V1JGg0

1V1JGg0

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

32<br />

AN ILLUSTRATION FROM THE BALAKANDA:<br />

GANESHA ATTENDED BY LADIES<br />

MEWAR, NORTH <strong>INDIA</strong>, CIRCA 1700<br />

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the<br />

elephant-headed god depicted with rotund body, he<br />

wears a crown topped with a lotus, leaning against a<br />

large purple bolster, he holds various implements, a lady<br />

massages his hand, a rat in the foreground, other ladies<br />

attend to him, under a canopy, an inscription in black<br />

devanagari at top within a yellow cartouche, numbered 3,<br />

within black rules and red borders<br />

10º x 15√in. (26 x 40.5cm.)<br />

£3,000-4,000 $4,300-5,700<br />

€3,800-5,000<br />

PROVENANCE:<br />

Acquired before 1991.<br />

The Balakanda or ‘the book of childhood’ is the frst<br />

book of Valmiki’s Ramayana. This folio being the third<br />

folio was close to the beginning of the manuscript. It<br />

is therefore probable that an image of Ganesha was<br />

chosen for this illustration to provide the text with<br />

auspicious blessings for the start of the text.<br />

31<br />

THE TWO PERSONIFIED ATTRIBUTES <strong>OF</strong><br />

VISHNU: THE CONCH SHELL AND THE LOTUS<br />

BUNDI, RAJASTHAN, NORTH <strong>INDIA</strong>, CIRCA 1690<br />

A rare depiction of Shanka and Padma, opaque pigments<br />

heightened with gold on paper, he with ash-covered<br />

body, she with red skin, each with third frontal eye and<br />

crescent moon, they sit on a lotus, embracing each other,<br />

each holding a conch and a fowering lotus, banana and<br />

other trees at either side, with black and white rules and<br />

red border, two devanagari inscriptions at top, the reverse<br />

with English inscription in pencil ‘God of Love, Kama/<br />

Dev with wife’<br />

7 x 10ºin. (17.6 x 26cm.)<br />

£3,000-5,000 $4,300-7,100<br />

€3,800-6,200<br />

PROVENANCE:<br />

Acquired before 1991.<br />

33<br />

A PAINTING FROM A DASAVATARA SERIES:<br />

MATSYA AVATARA<br />

KANGRA, NORTH <strong>INDIA</strong>, CIRCA 1830<br />

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, blueskinned<br />

Vishnu emerging from his fsh avatar and holding<br />

a sutra page, a golden mace, a conch shell, a ring and with<br />

a lotus fower in his yellow dhoti, attacking in the water a<br />

demon in his conch-shell, bearing a golden mace and a<br />

shield, within a black, green and white scroll frame, with<br />

pink borders<br />

Painting 5 x 8in. (12.8 x 20.4cm.);<br />

page 6 √ x 9æ in. (17.3 x 25cm.)<br />

£4,000-6,000 $5,700-8,500<br />

€5,000-7,500<br />

PROVENANCE:<br />

Acquired before 1991.<br />

24

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!